Dust to Dust
by Squishy.Pliff
Summary: Fate cannot be changed; no matter how hard we rebel, it will never change the fact. The bittersweet return to Oerba, Fang and Vanille.


The wind rustled gently against a still tree. With a slight pause, the tree seemed to beckon forth, if only for a while, to only fall back into its place. It had become a driving force, the wind, as if it were trying to save itself from a paralyzed state. Covering all throughout the commune, mountain to snow, sand to shore, the wind was the one thing that dared to be different. And yet, despite it's ever willful push, it could never go past its bounds. Like everything else, it was ultimately tied to it's own fate.

* * *

Arriving at Oerba was an emotional experience. Well, just a bit. Everyone was hoping to find a sort of closure there. More than anything, they just wanted a way out. So when they went to the village for the first time, they didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. It was an abandoned town; very much like everything else they had encountered at Gran Pulse. So why was it that two of all of them could feel this great sadness?

"It's just as I remembered it," came a quiet voice from the red-haired woman. The village, despite the dust of crystals that seeped around every crevice, seemed to not have changed at all. She smiled at first. Looking to her left, she saw the building that her and Fang had went to school at. From what she could tell, it was as if time hadn't injured it in any way. And then straight ahead... that's where they both had lived! To the right was where everyone had worked, and- … _everyone_. Suddenly, her expression changed from one of bliss to one of sadness. '_That's what's different',_ she thought to herself.

They were all gone.

The other woman was quiet. She had been quiet ever since she saw her home from the top of the tower.. submerged in dust. '_The flowers',_ were the first difference she noticed. '_They were all gone',_ more than likely been dead for hundreds of years now. Memories came flooding back into her head, and she wanted to forget for one moment, to stop, before moving on. But they couldn't. '_Vanille couldn't'_, she reminded herself. She thought it best not to speak. Everything had gone past the stage where she could put it to words.. only silence. It was important to appear strong for her friend as well, whom surely felt a similar pain. But there was one small pain, one that she buried deep inside herself, one that she was too afraid to speak. Normally, she wouldn't have been afraid- it was almost against the very character of the woman she grew into. But this? No, it was something different entirely.

'_Am I too blame?'_

Fang looked back at Vanille, her eyes looking at nothing more than her face.. a combination of confusion and sadness. '_Vanille'_, she thought at first. She did want to go over to her, but then she remembered everyone around her, and felt it best to keep her distance. During her time with all of them, despite feeling as a rebel occasionally, Fang felt that she was a bit of a leader to them all. She would be strong. She'd let her companion make the first move.

The red-haired woman made slow steps, before turning back to the group. "This is Oerba," she said in a way to uplift her spirit. After all, it was the same. Right? The others were too absorbed in taking in the envirnment, that she took her attention to Fang. '_She couldn't be alright'_, Vanille thought to herself. She walked over to the taller woman, who was now facing the horizon. The girl had wanted nothing to more than to understand the eyes of the woman; peer into her thoughts, even. Fang was reclusive about her feelings. Vanille understood this at an early age- sure, she could speak her mind with ease, but she was uncomfortable opening up like that.. especially around her.

"You all right?"

With the voice, a new thought entered the older woman's head. Now was not the time to feel pity; this was their home, true, but time was desperate. She couldn't afford to be emotional. The cost was too deadly. "Yeah, I'm alright," Fang lied to the younger woman, putting on a fake smile. "How 'bout you?"

"I.. I'm fine."

Another lie. Fang finally walked with a quick stride, her feet pushing across the weightless crystals, heading straight forward. For now, those words would be her assurance. She turned back for one moment, taking in the sight of her home that was lost in time, before continuing along the path. "We'd better hurry then. That brand isn't going to stop anytime soon." Vanille nodded her head, and the two woman walked onwards, back to the group as they led them through the village.

As Fang went on, Vanille felt a chill. The wind was giving a cool breeze.. as if it were calling to her. With a sigh, she rode on, with the wind forced to its own fate. From the mountain to the snow, and from the sand to the shore.

From dust to dust.


End file.
